


A Visitor In The Night

by Palefire73



Series: Prisoners. The Chronicles of Loki and Erika [10]
Category: Loki - Fandom, Marvel
Genre: Alternate Reality, Evolution of Loki's Character, F/M, Prisoners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 23:24:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11218401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palefire73/pseuds/Palefire73
Summary: A visitor has a strange effect on our beloved God - could it be something to do with the changes he has been going through now that he is no longer in Asgard?





	A Visitor In The Night

“Loki, we need to go to market.” Erika made a note on a piece of parchment and checked the list she had made again. The pantry had been well provisioned when she had got here and she was not entirely sure how Loki believed the items in there had been originally obtained, but some of them were running low and she also wanted to see just what was available to buy in the town nearby. She looked over at the large sofa, where Loki was curled up in his pyjamas reading a book and waited for a reply, but as she expected, he had not heard her.

“Loki!” She said loudly and he looked over to her questioningly as he lowered the book reluctantly; he was a complete bookworm and once he had his nose in the pages of a good read, he was completely oblivious to what was going on around him. Smiling at him despite her exasperation, Erika held up her list to show him. “The market, Loki. We need to go to buy some provisions. Perhaps we could take some surplus crops and barter?” She placed the list on the table and walked over to her God of Mischief to gently close the book, although she noticed he glanced at the page number to remember it before she did, and she took it off him and perched in front of him on the sofa. “Shall we go this week?” She asked, leaning against him and Loki wrapped an arm around her, shifting slightly so she could cuddle up to him.

“Yes, of course. It will be nice to go to see what there is and we do have rather a lot of apples ripening… and pears. More than we could use up before they spoil.” He stroked her arm and kissed the top of her head as they both watched the flickering of the flames in the large fireplace and Erika felt herself growing drowsy in the warm glow. They had spent the day harvesting some of the cider apples and Loki had been excited to try the new cider press he had built. There was already a press there, but their harvest was so successful that he had taken it upon himself to build a new one simply by copying the design of the old seasoned one they already owned, and to their delight it had worked perfectly. The juice was now in barrels undergoing the magical transformation into two different ciders: one type was to be clear and fresh and sparkling and the other one cloudy and fruity. The day’s activity had been quite hard work however, and they had both arrived back for a late evening meal feeling very tired. Loki had quickly showered and changed into pyjamas to relax on the sofa with a book and Erika had taken a long soak in the bath to ease the muscles which were aching from picking apples and working the press. Then she had decided to take an inventory of their pantry – which is where we found her.

There was another reason for going to the market; Erika wanted to interact with someone else. Loki seemed to be content to just be around her and the various animals of the small holding, especially the horses and she was not quite sure if this was partly because of his separation from other people back in Asgard, both whilst in solitary confinement and then in the coma in the Soul Forge. He had only really interacted with one person for a very long time in the form of The Vision and Erika wondered if it was simply what Loki preferred. Yet she was not used to such solitude. Erika was a vibrant young woman who enjoyed the company of others and she knew deep down that she needed to have some form of contact with someone else here in this prison or it would not be long before she would start to grow agitated and possibly let slip something which would be dangerous for Loki to know. His agreement to go to market by the end of the week was a relief and she smiled as she started to doze on Loki’s chest while he opened the book he had retrieved and began to read again. To the delight of her tired mind, he began to read some of the passages to her in his soft deep voice, and it was not long before her eyes closed and she began to lie back in the embrace of the sleep maidens.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loki looked down at the young woman who had just fallen asleep in his arms for probably about the fifth time since she had come to live at the farm and thought again about how lucky he was to have someone like her. She had settled in really well and seemed to be enjoying the various activities which made up their day, but he knew that with the slowly approaching winter there would be a lot of jobs to do to ensure that there was enough food laid over for them and the animals, that everything was in a good state of repair to defend against bad weather and various other tasks to carry out. They needed a farm hand to help out and the trip to the town tomorrow would be an ideal opportunity to ask about to see if there was anyone available to employ.

He closed the book he had been reading from and placed it on a small table, then shifted slightly so that both he and Erika would be comfortable beside each other on the huge sofa and pulled a warm blanket up over them. There was no point in disturbing the poor girl merely to transfer her to a cold and lonely bed as far as he was concerned and he decided that they would be fine just here with each other. She also moved in her sleep and so they were soon lying together in the warm glow of the fire and it was as spoons in a drawer that they slept all night, even after the embers had died. The warmth absorbed by the stone chimney breast and hearth was sufficient to keep away the chill, along with the patchwork blanket that was covering them. 

So deep was their sleep, and so restful, that neither of them heard the faint scratching of claws on the wooden floor as a cat approached them and sniffed at them curiously. The black feline leaped gracefully and silently on to the back of the sofa and nestled itself just behind Loki’s head, where it gently rubbed its face in his luxurious hair. And a strange thing happened. As Loki and Erika slept on and the black cat paid attention to Loki, strands of blackness began to emanate from the Trickster’s hair. Although it had become more of a dark brown colour of late, there were still a few black hairs mixed in there and it was these which were giving off what could only be described as black light. Within a few moments, the last of the black colour had finally gone from Loki’s hair and had been absorbed by the black coat of the cat giving it an almost majestic sheen of  midnight , and new strands of richest auburn now streaked through Loki’s hair here and there. 

The cat stood up and hopped off the sofa soundlessly and walked back to a darkened corner of the kitchen from where it had appeared. Finding Loki down here with another person had come as a bit of a surprise because the cat preferred to carry this out in private where there was no risk of anyone else seeing what was going on, but it seemed it had been a success anyway. Just before it sank back into the shadows, it turned to look at Loki and blinked its green eyes once before turning away and disappearing from view.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little one today - with a bit more intrigue about our feline friend :)


End file.
